As the hell year that was 2020 comes to a close I find myself very inspired to get a whole bunch of sewing done in the new year. How much I get through is questionable as I will be on a year of maternity leave so finding a balance between parenting, housework and sewing may be hard.
I also have 2 goals to work on sewing wise this year, they are
1. Increase skills by working on more elaborate and complete pieces
2. Work through stashed fabric and notions
The first goal is logical, we only get better if we challenge ourselves. The second has a sad but kind of inspiring story attached.
At the beginning of 2020, my mother passed away. She was young at 66 and it was an unexpected loss. I won't go into large details but sufficed to say as she was also a sewist and as I am the only relative who is also a sewist, I inherited a large amount of sewing stuff. It is also probably relevant to point out that we were also both kinda low key hoarders with a special interest in sewing stuff, so stash mountain has turned into stash Everest.
I did let a lot of the stash go, donating to The Sewing Basket or to family friends who were making large numbers of masks given the situation with Covid. In truth there was no way I could ever consider being able to get through it all. But there were many many fabrics I kept, so many of them purchased with plans to make things for her grandchildren - a task I will try and complete in this year coming and others fabric she had had for a long time. Fabric she found and liked and would use one day but never got the chance. Perhaps the right project never did come up or perhaps it did but what if she lost weight (she was always trying to lose weight) or what if she found something more perfect to use it on.
I think we all have a stash like this, we end up buying fabric specifically for projects rather than using what we have and a lot of what we have could have been used but its like deciding between having your cake and eating your cake. What I realised in all of this was cake is no good if you don't eat it. Eating it is its purpose, having it is a waste. So 2021 needs to be the year I realise the perfect project is the one I have now not the one that may or may not exist in the future. That silver and grey brocade I have been holding onto for nearly a decade, the vintage fabrics I found at fairs all of it is useless unless I use it. I don't want to hold onto it and then miss my chance.
With that all in mind I have started making lists of ideas on what projects I could conquer in 2021 - Assuredly I will not get through all of this but the priority is that each project must meet both goals. I will list them here in short form so that I can refer back to it when I finish one and move onto another. Some of these I will expand on in planing posts so that I also have an easy reference place for all my research. (List is being done in chronological groups)
Please feel free to comment on what projects you think would be most fun or that you would like to see or hear about.
Medieval
- Viking Apron Dress
- Tudor Catherine Parr
- Italian Renaissance Gown
1700's
- Robe a'la Francaise
- Robe d'Anglaise
- Slytherin Riding Habit
- Chemise a'la Raine
1800's
- Regency Silk Ballgown
- Scarlett's Orange Mill Dress
- Linen Walking Ensemble
1900's
- WW1 Era dress
- 1920's daywear
- WW2 Military Suit
- Vintage inspired work pieces
- Mums Children's wear
- Baby Bix Baby clothing
- Elizabethan Cartridge pleating
- Cursed Green Dress
- Blanket Dress
- Plaid Dress
- Toph's Victorian Coat
No comments:
Post a Comment